Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Sandy Hook Massacre, By Andrew Bendzinski

The account below was written by Andrew Bendzinski, a student,
for a class assignment. Mr. Bendzinski here provides a very good summary of events
surrounding the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The speculative portions
of his account towards the end of his paper are his own. Almost all seriously defective speculation
concerning Sandy Hook arises from the unaccountable delay of State Attorney Stephen
Sedensky’s criminal report. Mr. Bendzinski’s conclusions follow a careful
rendering of available data. The same cannot be said for the members of
Connecticut’s General Assembly, who wrote a gun law heavily dependent upon doubtful speculation and political exigency. I have made only minor grammatical changes
in Mr. Bendzinski paper.

TheSandy Hook Massacre

Abstract

I am
writing this essay in order to confront all the information, facts, problems,
and misconceptions involving the Sandy Hook incident which took place on
December 14, 2012. This paper will explore the integrity of the information
given by large media outlets, as well as compare information given that may
conflict widely with other accounts. My goal is to fully report on the entire
event so that the average person can take a look at all the information laid
out in front of them, and then decide what may or may not have happened.

There
is a large population that has subscribed to growing conspiracy theories on
this subject, while the rest of the populous discard these possibilities as
absurd or impossible. Instead, they view the stories given to them by news
stations such as CNN, FOX, etc as solid and reliable, without taking a look for
themselves and searching for an answer. I am creating a paper which is meant
for anyone and everyone to read, thus enabling people to take away from it what
they will, and have an opinion based on actual solid facts from a vast variety
of sources.

This
paper will be divided into three parts. The first part will be a review of all
information given in excessive detail. Part one is to be purely educational,
based straight out of news articles, videos, police audio reports, written
police reports, and any other solid sources.

Part
two will be me connecting events together or showing contradiction between them.
I plan to include as little bias as possible, if any. In part three, I will
explain what I think about the Sandy Hook massacre, as well as connect pieces
of the facts together in order to show an educated opinion . There are many
ideas that can be made using the information given, so it is up to the reader
to form their idea after reading part one and part two. Part three is an
optional read, and part one and two are all that are necessary for the reader
to read in order for them to formulate their own ideas (or keep their existing
idea). As stated before, I am simply laying everything out on the table, and
from there it is up to the individual to meditate and formulate their own
thoughts about what happened during the Sandy Hook shooting.

(impatient)“Command to
Newtown...could you get, uh, someone who's in charge of this scene from the
police department to come out and talk to us please?

Male

10:25:42 AM

“Standby.”

Male

10:28:32 AM

“Closet in the kitchen, we have some victims. Let us
know, we'll call the number. So that they know that you're coming.” *

Female

10:28:55 AM

“Thank you.”

Male

10:31:09 AM

“One of the places is in the kitchen, there's a
teacher and 18 kids here.”

Male

10:34:17 AM

“Newtown, [inaudible] responding to the scene, the
scene is not active- NOT active at this time. Reduce your speed, but
continue. No need for further response.”

Male

10:34:17 AM

“272 we're clearing the closets in the kitchen as we
speak.”

Male

10:45:44 AM

“(whisper)[They're going to make a?] goal-punting
documentary.”

Male

10:52:44 AM

“Be advised, we do have enough officers in the
building; we do not need any more officers entering the building.”

Male(019)

10:55:17 AM

“019 to 179.”

Male(179)

10:55:23 AM

“Come in.”

Male(019)

07:55:26 PM

“If you see people that are not already at the scene
or nearby, respond to troop A. Last report was that there was one suspect
that potentially was still at large, so I want them to set up at A in case we
need to deploy them somewhere else.”

Male(079)

10:55:44 AM

“Copy that.”

Male

10:56:14 AM

“I don't have any first-hand reports of any
IED's(Improvised Explosive Device) or anything like that, we're just uh,
[inaudible]”

Male

10:57:16 AM

“I have [Gino?] coming to you with a set of building
plans. When he delivers them to you they need to go to the front of the Sandy
Hook school to S6.”

Male

10:57:30 AM

“Received, he'll find me at the entrance of Dickinson
and Riverside.”

Male

10:58:00 AM

“Stage at troop A in Southbury. Again, all Eastern
Tactical Team Members to stage at A in Southbury.”

Male

11:01:05 AM

“We're [searching for?] Sergeant Talon, uh, he was in
the building doing a secondary sweep, and uh, we've got medics in there
checking the casualties.”

Male

11:02:14 AM

“Four to seven.”

Male

11:02:16 AM

“Go ahead.”

Male

11:02:19 AM

“What's your status at that residence?”

Male

11:02:23 AM

“We're evacuating each side across the street, and
then securing.”

Male

11:02:31 AM

“Are there more people [inside/in sight]?”

Male

11:02:34 AM

“We do not know at this time, we just arrived on
scene, and are evacuating each side.”

Male

11:02:42 AM

“Roger, just keep me informed.”

Female

11:04:17 AM

“Are you on route with the layout of the school?”

Male

11:04:22 AM

“Negative, we haven't seen that individual yet.”

Female

11:04:27 AM

“Received.”

Male

11:07:35 AM

(Children talking in background, inaudible) “OK be
advised, I'm with the parent here who has the children that were in the
classroom during the event. Uh I'm trying to get an account on them
now...they were, you know, not in the regular uh, we have a line of uh, lines
here with um, with um... rooms, they are not one of them so I'm gathering the
names of the students that were in the classroom at the time.”

Male(404)

11:08:44 AM

“404 to EMS command.”

Male

11:08:50 AM

“This is the secondary
triage, go ahead.”

Female(Triage 2)

11:09:12 AM

“EMS, this is secondary
triage, go ahead.”

Male(404)

11:09:17 AM

“This is 404, I have [storm
engine?] ambulance out here on the road here on Riverside, they're under the
impression they're transporting - do you have a patient for them?”

Female(Triage 2)

11:09:23 AM

“Affirmative, they need to
bring a gurney(stretcher) into the triage area.”

Male

11:09:31 AM

“Received, I'll relay that.”

Male

11:09:52 AM

“Cars, Danbury's reporting
a possible vehicle, purple van- two occupants with a possible ski mask, that
may be involved in this incident. Exit 8, heading down Stony Hill, [origin
center?]”

“We have [inaudible] on the scene, along with
personnel from the FBI.”

Male

11:16:20 AM

“Alright, I have a canine team, we're behind the
building, and we're going to be uh, doing the outer wooded area here. And uh,
where are you at right now?

Male

11:16:35 AM

“Roger, holding on the far side of the building where
you started.”

Male

11:16:44 AM

“Homes around are evacuated, perimeter is up.”

Male

11:16:56 AM

“Was last seen on Stony
Hill by Exit 8. Multiple people in the van have masks, one is dressed in what
appeared to be a nun's outfit."

11:17:28 AM

“Is 1089 available to go on
Route 8 and make a post, make a post for this uh purple van?

Male

11:17:34 AM

“Yeah, uh, continue to
Griffen, [inaudible] Griffen, we'll figure it out, but uh 1089 stay up close
for that [inaudible]

Male

11:17:45 AM

“Alright roger that, I'll
try to get more information on that purple van.”

Female

11:29:45 AM

“Last seen by Exit 8 on 84.
An unknown plate, and unknown travel of direction, possibly involved in the
incident in Newtown. Use caution, there may be a weapon involved.”

Male

11:30:52 AM

“Have we cleared the building yet?”

Male

11:31:35 AM

“I'm in the school, I can confirm that the school has
been checked three times over, and they're doing a fourth.”

END TRANSCRIPT

Your upload to YouTube relative to the Newtown CT
Shooting radio traffic has caused quite a stir as it relates to a Mr.
Christopher Rodia. I'm not sure where you sourced your feed, but the traffic
related to Mr. Rodia is from a 800 MHz six-channel trunked LMR system in use in
Greenwich, CT. Greenwich is approximately 45 miles away from Newtown. The
Greenwich system carries only municipal Greenwich traffic (public safety and
non-public safety) and is in no way connected to the state's 800 MHz trunked
system or Newtown's.I am certain of this because after the matter (and
all of the Internet Conspiracy Theory buzz - just google "Christopher
Rodia") was brought to our attention, we went back and checked our
recordings for December 14. In addition to just recognizing the voices involved
as Greenwich Police Officers and Dispatchers, we have all of the audio from our
recording system that matches all of the "Rodia" traffic (and some of
the other unrelated-to-Newtown casualty call traffic that occurs at the same
time.)

In any event, I'm sure you'll want to help clarify
this matter. The "Rodia" traffic is definitely contemporaneous - but
from miles away. This has unfortunately additionally clouded an already
confusing and emotional issue. Worse, it has brought considerable (and wholly
undeserved) angst to Mr. Rodia. Anything you can do to help clear this up would
certainly be appreciated.

Feel free to message me back with any questions. I
can also be contacted at mkordick@greenwichct.org.

[Updated at 1:42
p.m. ET] Connecticut State Police Lt.
Paul Vance said the shooter is dead inside the school. Vance said there are a number of fatalities that includes
both children and adults. He did not add more details about how many people
were killed during the school shooting.

Part 2

Normally, it would make perfect
sense to start off by reviewing the official narrative. The problem with doing
that for the Sandy Hook shooting is that many of the official accounts differ
and conflict in at least one way or another. Because of this, the
majority of Part One will simply be nothing more than tying all the different
accounts together. The first accounts I would like to examine are those that
came from the police scanner audio, which is easily found on many websites and
YouTube videos consisting of uncut scanner audio which lasted about 2 hours.
Though uncut, there is a small amount of encrypted transmission. Removing the
blocks of silence, static, and inaudible sound, I will write out any audio that
is imperative to creating an unbiased report. The people will be marked under
speaker info, and if the same person says something in succession it will be in
the same content box with the time marked. Black will be used to identify
Newtown police, red will be used to mark Fairfield County Police, blue will be
used to mark any medical personnel(not part of either police force), and purple
will be used to identify the officers who state any information about the
purple van.

-Brackets will be used to designate only content that is
extremely hard to hear, not to designate what the speaker meant to say. This is
done to keep the content as accurate as possible while helping the reader
understand content that is hard to understand.

-”...” marks are used ONLY to signify pauses. No speech is
left out in these areas.

The Incident According to the Police

This
is the ending of any police audio related to the incident that really has any
value to what we are looking into here. The conversations taper out, as most of
the police and medical personnel have arrived on scene by the and no longer
have much use for their radios. You may have noticed that there are long spaces
of time between some of the things said, if not most of them. This is because a
good amount of conversation in the audio, is, surprisingly, giving directions
to other police officers. I disregarded this as unimportant to the case, but a
little before finishing the transcript, I realized there was some slight
importance to it, but this will not be discussed until Part 2.

So,
without further ado, let me quickly go through the police scanner audio and
make a summary of the key events that took place, according to the police.
Again, not until Part Two will the smallest details be examined.

At
9:35:52 AM, on December 14th,
2012, dispatch notified Newtown police forces that someone had called
“indicating she thinks there's someone shooting in the building.” 27 seconds
after this, a unit “67” responded, saying they were on their way. However,
exactly 17 seconds after 67 responded (at 9:36:19 AM), another unit responded
saying; “Units responding to Sandy Hook School, the front glass has been broken
out of the school; we're unsure why.” This means that another car had
already gotten to the front door of the school in less than a minute after the
call of the shooting had been announced. Because the nearest police department
is about 6 minutes away from the school, is safe to say that this means the car
that responded first had to have been relatively close to the school at the
time of the incident.

A
little over one minute (09:37:14 AM) after dispatch had initially called in, gunfire
was still being reported by a man on the phone with the police department.
Units 95 and 67 were ordered to come up behind the school on Crestwood Drive.
At 09:38:15 AM, dispatch told all units that the shooting at Sandy Hook had
stopped, and that it was silent at the time. Exactly 53 seconds after this was
stated, dispatch then again stated that more shooting could be heard, and that
a teacher “saw two shadows running past the building, past the gym.”

An
officer says, “yeah, we got 'em!”, and another
can then be heard frantically yelling, “they're coming at me down
Crestwood!”, which is about 100 feet directly south of the Sandy Hook gym, at
the edge of the woods. It is safe to assume that this is one of the officers of
unit 95 or 67, due to the fact that they were the units ordered up to Crestwood
Drive. Dispatch then tells medics to stage at the Methodist Church, which is
about 3 minutes drive from the school. At 09:40:28 AM, an officer states that
“the shooter is apparently still shooting in the office area.” This is almost
five minutes after shooting was first reported. One minute later, police
radioed that they had somebody proned out on the ground. Again at 09:42:18 AM,
an officer reports that the shooters last known shots were in front of the building
(most likely near or in the offices refereed to 30 seconds prior.)

At
09:43:40 AM we hear that a call is received stating that in Room 1 there is an
injured female, who sustained a gunshot wound to the foot. Two minutes after
this, an officer reports bodies in the school and requests ambulances, and
about 30 seconds after this another officer reports that there is another
injured person in room 9, “with numerous gunshot wounds.” At 9:49 AM, it is
stated that the location of the shooter is still unknown, about 15 minutes
after police had first arrived. The scene is then reported to be silent at
09:49:06 AM, and an officer says that shots were fired about three minutes
before (based on his estimate, shots would have stopped around 9:46 AM, around
6 minutes after the last officer had reported shooting again at 09:40:28 AM.)

A
suspect is then reported down at 09:51:27 AM, however as of 09:53:25 AM, the
building had still not been cleared. Two
minutes after this, officers advise D5 that they should have “multiple
weapons”, and a speed limit sign was also reported down. An interior search
began at 09:56:22 AM, and it is requested to find the custodian in order to
obtain keys for a roof search at 10:00 AM. Buses are then requested, and
at 10:05:49, an officer reports another possible suspect. A unit then calls in
five minutes after, stating that they are either changing their firearms
or on their way to the Sandy Hook firehouse.

At
10:12:52 AM, a triage area is ordered to be set up at the firehouse by medical
personnel. One of them asks another about the status of their patient, and it
is answered that the patient had a gunshot wound to the left foot, needed
transportation, yet was alert and conscious (the need of transportation may
suggest that the medic who was tending to the patient may have been inside the
building with the patient, if it was the same female reported to have
been injured at 09:43:40 AM.) Police then request keys for the “library
offshoot closet” at 10:17:08 AM.

At
10:28:32 AM, roughly 53 minutes after dispatch had reported the first call of
an active shooter, another officer reports that there are victims in the
kitchen closet. He doesn't call them bodies, yet he does call them victims, and
tells the medical personnel to “call the number so that they know that you're
coming.” The fact that medical personnel were called specifically suggests that
the “victims” were either dead or wounded. I cannot state one or the other as
fact this early on in the essay. Three minutes after, it is stated that the
kitchen closets were being cleared, and then instantly after that, the scene
was said to be not active.

At
10:57:16, the building plans are apparently being delivered to S6, and nearby
streets seem to be secured and evacuated around 11:02 AM. An officer advises
that he is lines of teachers and students. He announces that he trying to get
accounts from them, but his speech seems to be very nervous, possibly due to
all the commotion going on at the scene.

The Incident of the Purple Van

The
remainder of police audio deals with the incident of a purple van that officers
claim “may be involved in” the Sandy Hook incident. I have outlined it in
purple for the following reasons: Upon searching for multiple sources to make
sure I had unedited police scanner audio, one of the many videos on YouTube
that had authentic audio had something posted in the description from a Capt.
Mark Kordick of the Greenwich Police Department. The uploader had kindly posted
it in the description for all to see:

“Dear Sir:

This,
along with the audio itself, was published on December 14th, 2012, the same day the event occurred. Some still claim
that these two incidents were linked together, but the point of this essay is
still to investigate all evidence and information possible. What is clear from
the audio is that shortly after the Sandy Hook incident took place, a purple
van with multiple occupants wearing ski masks and/or nun outfits was spotted
first on Stony Hill by Exit 8, and last by Exit 8 on 84.

The police had no license plate number and no
information on travel direction from 11:09 AM to 11:29 AM. This means that the
police did not gather this information within at least 20 minutes, and
possibly more than that, although it cannot be verified due to lack of any more
audio from relative events on that day. Doing a quick map search on the
internet, one can easily see that Stony Hill near Exit 8 to route 84 is about
7.4 miles away from Sandy Hook, a 15 minute drive. This will conclude the
police account given for this section of the paper.

The Incident According to CNN

Initially I wanted to go through a
timeline of what each news outlet had reported as the days went on after the
shooting and the events became more clear(according to them). Rather than go
through every update and post ever created, which would take infinitely long, I
will go through CNN's blog report, and it's updates on December 14th, 2012, and then their latest report as of November 24th, 2013. This first report was very hard to find, and is no
longer accessible through CNN's website. I filtered Google's results to only
give me articles that were published on December 14th, and this way I was able to indirectly connect to it on
CNN's news blog.

Because this is a report given to us
by a news source through officers, the timing will not mean very much here.
Regardless, I time will be bracketed before the text simply to show chronology.
All this information was taken directly from CNN's news blog, and will be
ordered here. I will also cut out any text unrelated to the incident in order
to avoid forcing the reader to read things that don't pertain to the goal of
this paper or the incident itself.

Lastly, in another attempt to save
the reader from reading some of the same information again, I will highlight
the information that is new and/or conflicts with the police audio. Everything
else will be information that has been already given in the police audio with
no contradiction. For a quicker but yet still accurate read, I would personally
suggest only reading the highlighted text in order to save time. The
highlighted text will be indicated by red color.

The First
Reports from CNN on December 14th, 2012:

[Posted at 10:30 a.m. ET]Breaking news coming in - Connecticut
State Police are responding to reports of a shooting at a Newtown elementary
school in southwestern Connecticut, according to police spokesman Lt. Paul
Vance.

[Updated at 10:53 a.m. ET]Sandy Hook school is on lockdown and students are not being
evacuated, a Newtown police spokesman tells us.

[Updated at 11:03 a.m. ET]
We're
still getting details in of how many people may have been hurt.

[Updated at 11:19 a.m. ET]Affiliate WTNH says
children are being taken to a nearby firehouse.

[Updated at 11:27 a.m. ET]
The
Hartford Courant, citing police, said an unspecified number of people had been
shot. The nature of their injuries was unclear, the newspaper said. But it
cited police in saying one person had "numerous gunshot wounds."

[Updated at 11:34 a.m. ET]The shooter is dead, a source with knowledge of
the investigation, tells CNN’s Susan Candiotti. Police have recovered two
weapons from him, the source added. It's not known whether police killed the
alleged shooter or he took his own life. The source says one weapon recovered
is a Glock and the other is a Sig Sauer.

[Updated at 11:45 a.m. ET]At least three people were wounded and
are in "very serious" condition at a hospital in Danbury,
Connecticut, that town's mayor, Mark Boughton told CNN. He couldn't say whether
the victims were children.

[Updated at 11:47 a.m. ET] The dad of a student at the school told CNN affiliate WTNH
there were about 600 pupils in the building at the time of the shooting.

[Updated at 11:58 a.m. ET]Danbury Hospital confirms it's treating some victims. It says this
on its Facebook page:

"To date, three patients have been
transported to Danbury Hospital from the scene. Out of abundance of caution and
not because of any direct threat Danbury Hospital is under lockdown. This
allows us simply to focus on the important work at hand.”

[Updated at 12:02 p.m. ET] Multiple local media are reporting there are
fatalities. We're checking.

[Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET] The shooter's body is in a classroom, a source
with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN’s Susan Candiotti.

[Updated at 12:16 p.m. ET]
Two
adults were killed, according to a parent who was at the school during the
incident, and who talked to our colleague Meredith Artley.

[Updated at 12:27 p.m. ET]The mom who spoke to CNN's
Meredith Artley said she heard "at least 100 rounds" being fired.The
shooting began about 9:35 a.m., the parent said. There was a "pop pop pop" in the
hall outside the room. Three people went out of the room into the hall where
the sounds had come from. "Only one person came back," we were told.
The witness told Artley that she then called 911. She said she never saw the
shooter but she later was escorted outside the room past two bodies lying in
blood.

[Updated at
12:48 p.m. ET] "Close to 20” people have been killed, including at least 10
children, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation says.

[Updated at 12:59 p.m. ET] Many people are talking again about gun control. But White
House spokesman Jay Carney isn't joining in for now.

[Updated at
1:45 p.m. ET] We are now learning that
a male is being questioned by investigators, but he is not being called a
suspect, CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.

[Updated at 1:47 p.m. ET] A few more details from
the White House press briefing earlier. White House spokesman Jay Carney said
while today is not the day to debate gun policy, an assault weapons ban
"does remain a commitment" of President Obama.

[Updated at 1:51 p.m. ET] We have just learned that
the suspected shooter is 20-years-old, a law enforcement source with knowledge
of the investigation tells CNN’s Susan Candiotti.

[Updated at 1:57 p.m. ET]The death toll is closer to 30 than 20, a federal
law enforcement source in Washington told CNN's John King. Most of those killed
are children, the source said. The source also said the suspected gunman, who
is dead, had a connection to the school. He would not elaborate on that
connection. The source is in touch with authorities on the scene.

[Updated at 2:11 p.m. ET] CNN's Susan Candiotti has
just reported that a law enforcement official tells her the suspect is named
Ryan Lanza and he is in his 20s.

[Updated at 2:39 p.m. ET] Federal law enforcement
officials have told CNN's John King that the shooting happened quickly and
happened in a concentrated area.

[Updated at 3:01 p.m. ET] The principal and
guidance counselor at Sandy Hook Elementary School were both killed during the
shooting, according to a witness that spoke to CNN.

[Updated at 3:09 p.m. ET]The suspect's mother was
shot and killed at the school, according to source close to the investigation.
She was a teacher there. And we now know that Ryan Lanza, the suspected gunman,
was 24.

(6:44 p.m. ET update–(Three U.S. law enforcement officials say the suspected gunman was
Adam Lanza, not his brother Ryan Lanza as officials had previously said. It is
not clear what caused the confusion among investigators. Ryan Lanza was picked
up from a home in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Friday and has been questioned but
has not been labeled as a suspect, officials now say. Also, CNN’s Susan
Candiotti is talking to investigators and has now learned that the mother of
the suspected shooter was found dead in the suspect’s home in Newtown)

[Updated at 3:22 p.m. ET]It appears that another
member of the alleged shooter's family is dead. A senior law enforcement
official familiar with the investigation says a brother of the alleged shooter
was found dead in a home searched in Hoboken, New Jersey. We already knew the
suspect's mother was found dead in the elementary school.

(6:43 p.m. ET update – CNN’s Susan Candiotti is talking to investigators and has now
learned that the mother of the suspected shooter was found dead in the
suspect’s home in Newtown. No brother of the suspect has been found dead, and
no one has been found dead in the home in Hoboken, New Jersey, investigators
say.)

***[Updated at 3:43 p.m. ET] Connecticut State
Police Lt. Paul Vance has just said that the shooting took place in one section
of the school and in two rooms.

***[Updated at 3:45 p.m. ET]There were a total of 27
people dead at the school, Lt. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police said.
Six adults, 20 children and the shooter were killed. Eighteen students were
pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died at the hospital, said Lt. Paul Vance of
the Connecticut State Police. The six adults died at the scene.

**[Updated at 3:51 p.m. ET]A federal law enforcement
source tells CNN's John King the information from the scene is that the shooter
arrived and headed directly toward and to his mother’s classroom. That and the
other information now emerging - another family member killed, police
interviews–lead
them to believe his mother was the primary target. But they note he also came
armed with clear intention of mass killing.

[Updated at 3:54 p.m. ET] Three guns were found at
the scene, CNN's Susan Candiotti reports. According to a law enforcement
source, the third weapon found on the scene was a .223 Bushmaster. The other
weapons, previously reported, are a Glock, and a Sig-Sauer. No word on the
models of Glock or Sig-Sauer.

[Updated at 3:56 p.m. ET] The principal killed was
Dawn Hochsprung.

***[Updated at 4:11 p.m. ET] Police did not discharge their weapons at any time when responding at
the school, police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. However, he could not
confirm whether the suspected shooter - who died at the scene - killed himself,
saying that would have to be determined by the medical examiner.

[Updated at 4:54 p.m. ET] We are now being told
there was no body found in the Hoboken, New Jersey, home as had been previously
reported.

[Updated at 5:01
p.m. ET] Law enforcement officials are not prepared to identify the shooter
right now, Connecticut State PoliceLt. J. Paul Vance said in a press
conference. "We will leave no stone unturned," Vance added about the
entire investigation.

[Updated at 5:14 p.m. ET] The first law enforcement
source says the school shooter was dressed in "black battle fatigues and a
military vest." The Bushmaster .223 found at the scene is a semi automatic
weapon, the source says. Two other weapons found were handguns, a Sig-Sauer and
a Glock.

[Updated at 6:44 p.m. ET]Three U.S. law
enforcement officials, from different agencies, separately tonight identified
the suspected shooter as Adam Lanza, contrary to what investigators had said
previously. It is not clear what caused the confusion among investigators. His older brother, Ryan,
was taken into custody for general questioning from a home in Hoboken, New
Jersey. Officials did not label Ryan Lanza as a suspect. It is unclear when he may
be released. One of the officials say Adam’s father was also taken in for
similar questioning. There is no indication that the father will be charged.

[Updated at 6:51 p.m. ET]A law enforcement official
familiar with the investigation says the three guns found at the shooting site
were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza, the mother of the suspect in the
shooting. According to the law enforcement official, the Glock and Sig-Sauer
handguns were found inside the school with the deceased gunman. The Bushmaster
was found in a car outside the school. The official did not know if the car was
registered to the gunman, to his mother or to someone else.

**Source
will be noted in the bibliography as "Connecticut School Shooting"
article given by CNN.**

END
REPORT HERE

This
is the end of the information given to us by CNN on the day of the Sandy Hook
incident. There is no need for me to do an overview, because unlike the police
scanner audio, the content is all in context and easily readable. However, I
will quickly address some of the issues outlined in red, but not most of them
until later.

The
update at 1:45 PM says that a male was being questioned by investigators, yet
he was not referred to as a suspect. Because of the fact that in the police
recordings we here officers talk about a “suspect down”, we cannot say that
these are the same people. The “suspect down” had to either be the shooter
himself, or another person they had proned out at 09:41:24 AM. The person they
had stated to be proned out was not referred to as a suspect, and thus we can
systematically reason that the person talked about by CNN here is either a) the
man proned out, or b) a different person altogether.

At
another point in the CNN feed (at 3:22 PM), it is said that a senior law
enforcement official reported that the brother of the alleged shooter was found
dead in a home searched in Hoboken, New Jersey. This is cleared up in an edit,
and can be confirmed to never have happened. No other news station had reported
this either, giving further support to the fact that there was never any body
found in the Hoboken home. The home in Hoboken was owned by Ryan Lanza, brother
of Adam Lanza, who we will discuss more about later on.

Note on
Latest CNN Report:

This
is the latest news overview of the Sandy Hook Incident given by CNN. If you
were to type “Sandy Hook CNN” into Google, you'd most likely find the article,
“Sandy Hook Shooting: What Happened?” The only problem I had with this article
is that I could not find a date on it after searching high and low, nor was the
author marked on the article. Luckily, everyone's best friend, Google, allowed
me to once again filter the search for this article within a publish date
range. I narrowed it down to the range of December 14th, 2012 and December 31st, 2012, thus meaning
that the latest report by CNN that I am about to give was somewhere between
these two dates.

It
is also clear that most information about the Sandy Hook shooting stopped
surfacing after around mid-January, and so it is not unreasonable that this
report was published during the cited range. Because of the fact that unlike a
blog post or transcript log, this article is a relatively short summary of
events, I will not be highlighting anything here. This is the latest report by
CNN as of November 24th, 2013.

CNN:
“Sandy Hook shooting: What happened?”

-Before events at the school:

“At some point
before he went into the school, investigators believe Adam Lanza, 20, killed
his mother, Nancy Lanza. He grabbed three guns from the house – a
semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle made by Bushmaster and pistols made by Glock
and Sig Sauer – and went to the elementary school wearing black fatigues and a
military vest, according to a law enforcement official.

Classes were under
way at the school. Approximately
700 students were present. Earlier this year, the school principal, Dawn
Lafferty Hochsprung, ordered a new security system installed that required
visitors to be visibly identified and buzzed in. As part of the security
system, the school locked its doors each day at 9:30 a.m.

The door was locked when the
gunman arrived. Authorities now know the gunman used ‘an assault weapon’ to
‘literally (shoot) an entrance into the building,’ Connecticut Gov. Dannel
Malloy said.

-Inside the School:

Hochsprung heard
loud pops. She, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and vice principal Natalie
Hammond went out to investigate. Only Hammond returned from the hallway alive.
She was wounded. At about 9:30 a.m., as announcements were read over the
loudspeaker to the students, shots were heard across the school. Students
described being ushered into bathrooms and closets by teachers after hearing
the first shots. Lanza moved toward two classrooms of kindergartners and
first-graders, police said.

In one classroom
was Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher who was filling in for a teacher out
on maternity leave. The gunman shot all 14 students in the classroom, law
enforcement officers said.

In another
classroom, Victoria Soto, 27, moved her first-grade students away from the
door. The gunman burst in and shot her, according to the father of a surviving
student. Six students were killed in that classroom.

-First Responders Arrive

At the police station, dispatchers began to take calls from
inside the school. Authorities say the first emergency call about the shooting
came in at "approximately" 9:30 a.m. "Sandy Hook school. Caller
is indicating she thinks someone is shooting in the building," a
dispatcher told fire and medical personnel, according to 911 tapes.

Police and other
first responders arrived on scene about 20 minutes after the first calls. Police report
that no law enforcement officers discharged their weapons at any point. The
gunman took his own life, police said. He took out a handgun and shot himself
in a classroom as law enforcement officers approached, officials said. Twenty
students, ages 6 and 7, and six adults were killed at the school. Police
secured the building, ensuring no other shooters were on site.

Police then
escorted students and faculty out of the building to a nearby firehouse. As
reports of the shooting made their way around town, frantic parents descended
on the firehouse where the children had been taken. By nightfall, the firehouse
became a gathering point for parents and family members whose loved ones would
never walk out of the school.” (END)

This
concludes the information given to us from CNN. CNN had released small clips
along with this article, including about a minute or so of the police scanner
audio that I used as well. The clips they have are of various short reports
about miscellaneous things in the case, some of which will be talked about
later in part to.

The Incident According to Fox News

When searching
for the first releases of this news according to Fox, the earliest article from
them I could find was from December 16th, 2014. Instead
of copying the article I will restate what is said in my own words, and put it
in bullet format. This is the report given by Fox News, headed; “As Nation
Mourns, investigators try to figure out what led to Tragedy in Newtown, Conn.”

The article tells that:

- On Friday morning (12/14/12), Adam Lanza shot his mother
four times in the head.

- He then drove
to the school in her car and four guns, including a shotgun. “The rifle used
was a Bushmaster .223-caliber, according to an official with knowledge of the
investigation who was not authorized to speak about it and talked on condition
of anonymity. The gun is commonly seen at competitions and was the type used in
the 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C., area. Also found in the
school were two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm.”

-
Adam Lanza shot his way into the building and was not buzzed in. A custodian
ran through the halls and warned people of the gunman, and someone switched on
the intercom which also helped to warn people by allowing them to hear “the
hysteria going on in the office.”

-
Malloy sayst that “Lanza committed suicide when he heard responders coming”
with a shot to the head from the 10mm Glock, “and the bullet was recovered in a
classroom wall.”

-
Eighteen of the children and six more adults were dead at the school, and two
children died later on (stated by Lt. Vance).

-
Adam's brother, Ryan Lanza, and his their father, Peter Lanza, were questioned
by authorities and stated to be uninvolved in the shooting at all.

-
“Vance said
during Friday afternoon's news conference that police arrived at the scene
"within minutes" of a 911 call placed shortly after 9:30 a.m.
Friday.”

--Fox also states
that Lanza was believed to have suffered from “personality disorder and lived
with his mother.”

This
is the end of any noteworthy content in the article by FOX. Their information
had stayed basically the same in later reports. I would like to add here that
the reason I am using FOX and CNN as the two main news sources I am analyzing
is because of the fact that they tend to have opposite biases politically, and
I fully believe that in conducting research such as this, it is important to
have information not only from multiple sources, but from diverse sources.

The
last source I want to examine is the report given by Stephen J Sedensky. This
is the “official” report given to us, which came out on November 25th,
2013. It must be understood that this report is a highly redacted report. The
release of the full report, which is supposed to be several thousand pages
long, has been delayed twice and may never be released. The report that I will
state information from here is only 43 pages long. Because it is so long, I
will try to make it as brief as possible and go through it in a similar fashion
to that of the FOX news article. “Report of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District
of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy
Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut on
December 14, 2012”
is the official name of the document, and it can easily be found on the
internet.

The Incident
According to State's Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III

- Adam Lanza parked his 2010 Honda Civic next
to a "No Parking Zone" outside of the school and approached the front
entrance with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, 10mm Glock 20, 9mm Sig Sauer P226,
and a "large supply of ammunition" a little after 9:30 AM.

- With the doors locked, Adam shot
his way into the school, "through the plate glass window to the right of
the front lobby doors."

- The main office staff reported to
have heard the glass breaking at approx. 9:35 AM and saw Adam, "a white
male with a hat and sunglasses with a rifle type gun." It is reported that
he did not say anything and was breathing normally while shooting the rifle
down the hall.

-Attendees of a recently-begun
"Planning and Placement Team" meeting(held in Room 9) heard the
banging, and principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, and psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56,
left the room along with an unnamed staff member. Hochsprung and Sherlach were
killed by the gunfire, and the unnamed staff member was wounded by a bullet to
the leg, fell down and laid still, and was then hit again by additional
gunfire. "Not seeing anyone in the hallway, the staff member crawled back
into Room 9 and held the door shut."

- Someone then called 911, and the
school intercom was turned on from the phone in room 9, thus warning others in
the building of the commotion.

- "At the same time the shooter
was firing in the hallway, another staff member was at the far east end of the
hallway near classroom 1. The staff member was struck by a bullet in the foot
and retreated into a classroom." Both wounded staff members survived after
being treated in the hospital later on.

- Lanza then entered the main
office. The office staff had already hidden themselves, and reportedly heard
sounds of the office door opening and footsteps. Adam walked in and then out of
the office, and after the staff had heard the door open again, they heard more
gunfire outside. Office staff then called 911.

- “Where the shooter specifically
went next is unclear.” Evidence suggests that Adam then went down the hallway
and entered classrooms 8 and 10, where he shot and killed twenty children and
four adults. “Twelve children survived, one from classroom 8 and eleven from
classroom 10.”

- Adam Lanza then shot himself in
the head with the 10mm Glock 20, and “is believed to have occurred at 09:40:03
AM.”

-
Seventeen people were killed in Room 8. Fifteen children were found by
police in the room. Fourteen of them were deceased, and one was brought to
Danbury Hospital and pronounced dead. The substitute teacher, 30-year-old
Lauren Rousseau, and 29-year-old behavioral therapist Rachel D’Avino were both
found dead with the fourteen children. However, a sixteenth child survived the
shooting in this room and left the classroom after police had arrived.

- In Room 10, teacher Victoria Soto,
age 27, was killed with 52-year-old behavioral therapist Anne Marie Murphy.
Five children were found in the room. Four of the five were deceased, and the
remaining one was transported to Danbury Hospital and pronounced dead. Nine
children had run out of the room and survived the shooting, and an officer
found two uninjured children in the class restroom.

- The number of people found dead
within the school is eighteen children and six school staff members. Two more
children were pronounced dead at the Danbury Hospital, leaving the death toll
at twenty children and six staff members.

- In Rooms 6 and 12 (located on
either side of classrooms 8 and 10), staff and students hid in the restrooms
and locked the doors. In other parts of the school, students and staff hid
wherever they were located at the time of the shooting and the staff kept the
children calm by reading to them and having them draw pictures. While an
unspecified number of staff and students were able to escape, those who did
"prior to police arrival" went to various places such as nearby
houses or Sandy Hook Center.

- "It was fewer than four
minutes until the time the first 911 call was received until the first police
officer arrived at SHES(Sandy Hook Elementary School)."

- "It was fewer than five
minutes from the time the first 911 call was received until the shooter killed
himself."

-"It was fewer than six minutes
from the time the first police officer arrived on SHES property to the time the
first police officer entered the school building."

The report then
gives a very short version of the police scanner audio:

-9:35:39 - First 911 call to Newtown
Police Department is received.

-9:36:06 - Newtown Police Department
dispatcher broadcasts that there is a shooting at

Sandy Hook Elementary School.

-9:37:38 - Connecticut State Police
are dispatched to SHES for active shooter.

-9:42:39 - Newtown officer calls out
the license plate of the shooter’s car.

-9:44:47 - Newtown officers enter
SHES.

-9:46:23 - CSP arrive at SHES.

-9:46:48 - CSP enter SHES.

This is all that
will be summarized from the Sedensky report at this time. I will indeed
reference this report quite a lot in the text ahead, but as for now, what I
have written will suffice for comparison with the sources of CNN, FOX, and the
police scanner audio. This concludes part one. The majority of the information
that will be looked at is now present, but more information will be examined
and cited within Part 2 as well.

Here
is where I will connect, compare, and contrast the above reports together,
while also including information from a few other sources and articles which will
be appropriately marked in the references page. I will title the subject in
bold and then asses it information underneath, so that it will be easier to
read and find certain subjects that the reader may want to jump between.

Shooter’s Method of Entrance to the School

At
09:36:36 AM, a male police officer states that “the front glass has been broken
out of the school.” CNN’s most recent report said that the door was locked and
that the shooter had used “an assault weapon to literally shoot an entrance
into the building”, which lines up with what the police seem to have
encountered upon getting to the school. FOX news and the Sedensky report also
line up with these statements. The pictures below are evidence photos that were
released with the Sedensky report.

Time of Shooters Entrance to the
School

Sedensky's report says that the shooter
approached the front of the school "shortly after 9:30 a.m."
(Sedensky, 9). However, it states that staff "had reported hearing noises
and glass breaking at approximately 9:35 a.m. and saw the shooter"
(Sedensky, 9). By this information, if the Sedensky report is wholly correct,
it must mean that the shooter must have stood at the door of the building for
about five minutes, "heavily armed" yet completely undetected or
unquestioned.

The
police scanner audio shows us that units were first notified that there was
shooting going on at 9:35 AM. This lines up with the Sedensky report's claim
that the first 911 call was received at 9:35 AM, yet the question remains
unanswered as to why the shooter would have waited outside the front of the
building for five minutes before firing into the glass.

The
FOX article and the CNN article both state that the shooter had entered the
building shortly after 9:30 AM. If these reports were correct, then it would
mean that it would have taken five minutes for staff to hear the gunshots and
call 911. It is likely that this small piece of information was misconstrued,
as five minutes would have made little difference to initial reports. But when
we look at the alternative involving the shooter being outside the front of the
school for five minutes, it could mean something. If the news reports were
correct, why would it take so long for staff to call the police, and why would
it take five minutes for the first 911 call to be placed, and if the Sedensky
report is correct, then what was the shooter doing in front of the building for
five minutes, and how did he go unnoticed standing outside of an entrance made
almost entirely of plate glass?

Another
thing to note is that according to the Sedensky report, the school had a call
box, buzzer system, and video camera on the exterior of the entrance. The
exterior of the main entrance door way had a call box, buzzer system with a
video camera. "The video camera did not record, but the video could be
viewed live on three monitoring systems on the secretaries’ desks in the main
office (Sedensky, 17)."

Time of the Shooting

The
police scanner audio shows that the shooting must have began around 9:35 AM,
slightly before the first 911 call was made. At 9:38 AM, the police audio
states that the shooting appeared to have stopped, and then again at 9:42 AM an
officer reports: "shots were fired about three
minutes ago, quiet at the time." This
means that shooting had happened again after 9:38 AM, and this statement would
line up with Sedensky's statement that the last gunshot was heard at 9:40 AM
(Sedensky, 12), which was undoubtedly the shot that ended the shooter's life.
Sedensky's report says that the shooter started shooting his way through the
building shortly after 9:35 AM, thus lining up well with the police scanner
audio. It is safe to say that the shooter was shooting in the building for
slightly under five minutes, between 9:35 and 9:40 AM, and that the shooter had
killed himself by 9:40 AM.

Location of the Shooting
Inside the Building

Sedensky's report says that the shooter was first seen
firing down the north hallway upon entering the building. The shooter wounded
one staff member in the foot at the eastern end of this hallway, who then
retreated into classroom 1. The bodies of Mrs. Hochsprung and Mrs. Sherlach
were found at the western end of the hallway, near the lobby (Sedensky, 10). In
Room 8, fifteen students and two staff members were shot and killed. One
student was found living, but later pronounced dead at Danbury hospital. The
shooter killed 17 people in this room, and one student was found well and
alive, and was evacuated by police once they reached the scene (Sedensky, 10).
A total of 80 spent 5.56mm shell casings were found in the same room, as well
as 24 unfired casings located in magazines on the floor (Sedensky, 21).

In Room 10, five students and two teachers were shot and
killed. One of these students was found alive, but was also transported to
Danbury hospital and then pronounced dead. Nine children had run out of the
room and survived, while two other children were found uninjured in the
classroom restroom. Adam Lanza was also found dead in Room 10, from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from the 10mm Glock 20. His clothing
was as follows:

"He was wearing a
pale green pocket vest over a black polo style short sleeve shirt over a black
t-shirt. He had yellow colored earplugs in each ear. He was wearing black cargo
pocket pants, black socks, black sneakers, a black canvas belt and black
fingerless gloves on each hand. He had an empty camouflage drop holster that
was affixed to his right thigh (Sedensky, 22)."

However, the earlier search warrants which were requested
by Sedensky and authorized by Honor John F. Blawie stated that Lanza had been
found deceased wearing a bulletproof vest (Blawie, 15). These search warrants
were also requested and given by Stephen J. Sedensky, and so it can be
presented as odd that such contradiction between these reports exists.

Looking at the police scanner audio, at 10:28:32 AM, we
hear an officer say: "Closet in the kitchen, we have some victims. Let
us know, we'll call the number. So that they know that you're coming."
This would wholly contradict all other reports, as while earlier reports
thought the shooting took place within Rooms 1 and 2, and the Sedensky report
states that the shooting had taken place in Rooms 10 and 8, and no reports had
said that there was any shooting in the kitchen area. But we have to be careful
of making assumptions, and examine what the officer meant.

The officer stated that the people he found in this
location were "victims". As defined by the Merriam-Webster
dictionary, a victim is "a person who has been
attacked, injured, robbed, or killed by someone else." If the officer
meant that the people in the kitchen closet were injured, why do we not hear of
this in the Sedensky report or in any other news report? If the officer meant
"bodies" when he said "victims", again, why is there no
mention of bodies found here in any report, especially that of Mr. Sedensky?

We also must take into account the
simplicity of human error. Maybe the officer meant to say
"people/students/staff" other than "victims", but we
wouldn't naturally describe someone unharmed as a victim. One thing that may
rule out the possibility of them being uninjured or killed is the fact that he
says "so that they know that you're coming" most likely to the
medical talking on the radio with him before and after he says this. This would
make complete sense, because if the people were injured, the officer would want
to have medical personnel on the scene helping those wounded in the kitchen as
soon as possible. Regardless of whether there were wounded, dead, or unwounded
people, it stands to question as to why no other report nor the Sedensky report
make any mention of staff/students hiding in the kitchen closets whatsoever.

Firearms Used in the
Shooting

There has been a large amount of
confusion over the weapons found on scene and the weapons used by the shooter.
Initially, it was stated by many news stations that Adam Lanza used one or more
of the following weapons: A Bushmaster AR-15, a 9mm Sig-Sauer pistol, a 10mm
Glock 20, and/or a Saiga 12 shotgun.

In the first reports made by CNN,
they reported that a Bushmaster .223 was found on the scene along with the
Glock and Sig-Sauer at 5:14 PM. At 6:44 PM, it was stated that all three
weapons were registered to Nancy Lanza, and that the Bushmaster was found in
the trunk of a car, and the two pistols were found on scene. In CNN's article,
"Sandy Hook Shooting: What Happened?", that we reviewed, CNN states
this time that an "assault weapon", referencing the Bushmaster rifle,
was used.

FOX news also reported that the
Bushmaster .223 rifle was used to kill the victims inside the building, and
that Lanza used the 10mm Glock 20 to shoot himself in the head. The Sig-Sauer
was also recovered from the building.

CBS and NBC news all released
different information in later news reports, between January 15th and January
28th. These clips can easily be found on YouTube and Google, but cannot be
found in printed format due to the fact that they were not written out as
articles, and simply shown in the news regarding the incident as a whole. Pete
Williams, NBC's chief Justice Correspondent, stated that only four pistols were
used in the shooting, and that the rifle was left in the car that Adam Lanza
drove to the school. CBS reported that nothing but two pistols, a 10mm Glock 20
and a 9mm Sig-Sauer were used in the shooting, and that the Bushmaster .223 was
left in the car as well.

One video which caught a lot of
attention was a clip of a newsreel where police could be seen pulling a long
weapon out of the trunk of Adam Lanza's car. The quality of the footage is very
low, however many think that this weapon was the AR-15 that the shooter
allegedly used in the shooting. Those who doubt the integrity of reports say
that if the shooter was supposed to be using that AR-15, then how was it found
in the trunk of his car? The Sedensky report claims that this weapon was a
12-gauge Izhmash Saiga 12 shotgun that had been left in the car, and that the
weapon was not used at all in the shooting (Sedensky, 36). From viewing the
video myself, and having a decent knowledge about firearms, I personally
believe that the weapon that police are taking out of the trunk is indeed a
Saiga 12 shotgun.

Regardless of the earlier reports,
the Sedensky report states multiple times that the firearm used by the shooter
to kill and wound victims was a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle (Sedensky, 1). To
clarify, this is an AR-15 model rifle, in spite of the fact that
"AR-15" is not included in the actual name or model number of the
firearm. As far as the situation goes, Sedensky's report is the first report to
supposedly confirm the weapon used to anyone.

Wounded

According to the Sedensky report and
the police audio, we can see that there were two wounded survivors. In the
police scanner audio, at 09:46:22 AM, we hear; "We've got an injured
person in room number 9 with numerous gunshot wounds." Right before this,
we also hear an officer make the statement; "...we have one female in Room
1 who has received a gunshot wound to the foot" at 09:43:40 AM. The
Sedensky report also points these two situations out, but neither report
identifies who the wounded are.

An interview with the school's
superintendent, Dr, Janet Robinson, tells us that one of the wounded was the
lead teacher, Natalie Hammond (MSNBC, 1). According to this interview, Natalie
Hammond was the unnamed staff member that went out into the hallway with Mrs.
Sherlach and Mrs. Hochsprung. When they were killed by the shooter, she was
wounded and survived. Through this interview, we can go back to the police
scanner audio and the Sedensky report to learn more about what happened to
Natalie.

The Sedensky report offers this
information:

"As
the staff member left the room, the staff member heard gunshots and saw Mrs.
Hochsprung

and Mrs.
Sherlach fall down in front of the staff member. The staff member felt a
gunshot hit the

staff
member’s leg. Once down, the staff member was struck again by additional
gunfire, but laid

still in
the hallway. Not seeing anyone in the hallway, the staff member crawled back
into room

9 and
held the door shut (Sedensky, 9).

Because the "staff member"
must have come out of and crawled back into Room 9, the same room that
Hochsprung and Sherlach came out of according to this report, Natalie must be
the unnamed staff member. Because the report says the staff member was shot in
the leg and struck by additional gunfire, it would make sense to conclude that
this was the same person who was in Room 9 "with numerous gunshot
wounds" that police talked about in the audio. All of this links together
and shows us that this unnamed person is Natalie Hammond.

Why the Sedensky report does not
refer to her by name, is unknown, but the report clearly hides her name by
referring to her as just "the staff member", in spite of the fact
that it talks about Mrs. Hochsprung and Mrs. Sherlach. The wounded female that was found in Room 1 with
a gunshot wound to the foot, is never named in any report or article
whatsoever, and the information as to who this person is has not been disclosed
anywhere for unknown reasons. The only mention of this person is by police when
they found her at 09:43:30 AM. She is accounted for in many articles online
that show casualty data from the tragedy, but none of them name her.

Detained
Characters

While the
Sedensky report does not give much information on the people detained at the
scene of the shooting, multiple other documents do. When stories emerged, some
news sources stated that there were two shooters in the building, in fact, the
Sedensky report states throughout it that it's primary goal is to show that
there could only have been one shooter. On the day that this event took place,
footage was released of police chasing a man through the woods. This man was
later said to be Chris Manfredonia, a father of one of the students who had
gone to the school in order to help make gingerbread houses (Serrano, 1). Chris
Manfredonia was not arrested, but detained, and the claim of him being on scene
could be confirmed by the police report, relating to the man "proned out".

The Shooting at 36 Yogananda
Street, Newtown CT

Up until
this point, I have not included any information about the shooting at 36
Yogananda Street, Newtown, CT, where Nancy Lanza, 52, was killed. The Sedensky
report gives one of the most in-depth accounts of this event, which we will
review first. According to this report, on the morning of December 14th,
2012, Nancy Lanza was shot and killed in her bed sometime before 9:30 AM
(Sedensky, 24). The report states that she had been shot with a .22 caliber
Savage Mark II rifle, however it is vague on the number of times she was shot.

Sedensky
states that an unnamed individual had heard “two or three” gunshots in the
neighborhood, but thought that they were caused by hunters. It then states that
“In the chamber of the rifle was a spent .22 cal. shell casing and three live
rounds were in the magazine. Three other spent .22 cal. shell casings were
found in the room and seized (Sedensky, 25).” The spent casing in the rifle
would account for one fired round, while the three other spent casings would
account for three more fired rounds. This would mean that four rounds were
fired, but the report does not give any information as to whether all four hit
Nancy Lanza, or if some of them had possibly missed. The Sedensky report
further shrouds this bit of information by later stating that “the cause of
death was determined to be multiple gunshots to the head (Sedensky, 27).”

On
December 21st, 2012, CNN reported that Nancy Lanza “was shot four times in the head, Connecticut Chief Medical
Examiner H. Wayne Carver said (Feyerick, 1).” ABC News and FOX news also have
numerous reports stating that Nancy Lanza was shot four times, yet for an
unknown reason the Sedensky report refuses to clarify this.

A look at the search warrants shows
a contradiction on top of this. It states that "the white female[Nancy
Lanza] sustained an apparent gunshot wound to her forehead (Blawie, 15)."
The "an" and "gunshot" definitely would imply only one
gunshot was used to kill Nancy Lanza, but the Sedensky report contradicts that
in stating that the cause of death was "multiple gunshots to the
head."

There was and is still plenty of
speculation regarding the mental health of Adam Lanza. Many news outlets
claimed that Adam Lanza had Asperger’s syndrome or some type of personality
disorder. These things go hand in hand with his education, which will be used
to show changes in Adam as time went on.

The Sedensky report speaks quite a
lot about this subject. It states that Adam went through the Newtown public
school system, though 7th and 8th grade were partly done
at St. Rose of Lima School in Newtown (Sedensky, 32). He had attended Sandy
Hook Elementary School from 1998 to 2003, and would take walks with his mother
around the school when classes were out. Sedensky also adds, “The shooter loved
the school and indicated that he liked to go there (Sedensky, 33).”

Adam Lanza would attend parties and
plays, and he loves music and the saxophone, which he could play. Sedensky
states that “the early school years have him portrayed as a nice kid, though
sort of withdrawn”, and that as he got older, he became more of a loner
(Sedensky, 33). During middle school, he began to greatly dislike confusion and
loud noise, and as a result was home schooled for part of his high school
education later on. His mother would take him where he wanted to go, however he
did not like going to events with large crowds. He attended Newtown High School
and graduated in 2009, and was considered a special education student. He also
took classes at Western Connecticut State University while in high school, and
went on to take courses there after he graduated (Sedensky, 33).

The Sedensky report then goes on to
give us a list of information on Adam given by various people who knew him,
found on page 33 and 34 of the report. In fifth grade (2002-2003), he was
described as “quiet, reluctant, and had bright ideas regarding creative
writing.” He wasn’t bullied, and would not engage in conversation but at the
same time would not ignore one. During this time Adam also indicated that he
didn’t like sports, didn’t think very highly of himself, and thought that
everyone deserved more than he did. He is also described as someone who
participated and listened in class, and would not show extreme happiness or
extreme sadness.

According to the report, in sixth
grade, Adam was a student who got all A's an B's, described as respectful and
cooperative, and never was bullied. It is also stated that he participated in
school concerts in 2003 and 2004 (Sedensky, 33). It is then said that in
seventh grade, Adam was described as normal yet had "anti-social
issues". It is said that he was quiet, didn't want to participate in
anything, and his writing assignments obsessed about battles and war, yet at
the same time, when asked to write a poem, he was "able to write a
beautiful one and present it in public (Sedensky, 34). In ninth and tenth grade, Adam would play
video games in his bedroom all day, and in high school he did not have good
social skills but also did not show any signs of violence. The Sedensky report
then says this:

"In high school the shooter
would have 'episodes' and his mother would be called to the school. The episodes
would last about fifteen minutes each. There were no signs of violence during
any of these episodes and the shooter was more likely to be victimized than to
act in violence against another (Sedensky, 34)."

The report does not state what these
"episodes" were or why they happened, and in a footnote it says that
whatever these episodes were is unclear. It could seem odd that this much
information was gathered about these episodes, yet what they were remains
unknown. The report then talks about how at NHS, Adam was part of the 2007-2008
Tech Club, and was remembered as someone who was very intelligent yet quiet. He
never spoke of violence and was not bullied, but seemed to have a problem with
touching some things (what these "things" are remains unknown) and
would thus pull his sleeves around his hand in order to. In 2008, Adam held a
LAN party at his house (this is a party where you invite your friends over to
play video games against each other via internet/LAN and eat food together).

The report
then goes on to finally state that in 2005, Adam was diagnosed with Asperger's
Disorder and had a lack of empathy along with a "very rigid thought
process (Sedensky, 34)." It also says that Adam "had an extreme
anxiety and discomfort with changes, noise, or physical contact with
others." Despite the fact that the report says he was diagnosed with
Asperger's, it then goes on to say that his mother "consistently described
the shooter as having Asperger's syndrome." It says that he also had OCD,
and possibly Pervasive Development Disorder. It also says that Adam did not
like to be touched, didn't like making eye contact, and over time began to have
problems touching door knobs, would repeatedly wash his hands, and change his
clothes multiple times each day.

He reportedly
stopped playing the saxophone around seventh grade, dropped out of the school
band that he played in, and did not enjoy playing sports. It is said that the
mental health professionals that saw Adam Lanza "did not see anything that
would have predicted his future behavior (Sedensky, 35)." As of November
12, 2012, Nancy Lanza had sought to buy Adam a CZ 83 pistol and also computer
parts so that he could build himself another computer. The Sedensky report also
states that during this same time, Nancy Lanza had indicated that Adam had not
gone anywhere in three months and would communicate with her only via email
(Sedensky, 28). According to the investigation of the house itself, Adam
Lanza's room had black garbage bags taped over the windows, as well as did the
computer room.

Items Found in Adam Lanza's Home

The
Sedensky report as well as the earlier search warrants give us a bunch of
information of what was found in the Lanza household. I will go through this
quickly, and write down what it says in a brief fashion. The list of specific
video games tells us that the following games were found in the computer room:

-
"Left 4 Dead" -
"Grand Theft Auto"

-
"Metal Gear Solid" -
"Shin Megami Tensei"

-
"Dead Rising" -
"Dynasty Warriors"

-
"Half Life" -
"GTA: Vice City"

-
"Battlefield" -
"Doom"

-
"Call of Duty" -
"Team Fortress"

The other findings include a Christmas check for the CZ83
pistol from Nancy Lanza, the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended
Tragedy (this is a book about the shooting that took place in a one-room
Amish school in Pennsylvania in October of 2006), and three photographs of a
dead human covered in blood and wrapped in plastic. Digital information
collected from his computer consists of bookmarks on subjects pertaining to
firearms, military, politics, mass murder, Army rangers, computers and
programs, ammunition, candy, video games, music, books, and economic books.
Documents on weapon ammunition capacity, Dance Dance Revolution screenshots,
videos of Adam playing Dance Dance Revolution, "School Shooting"
titled video game, Combat Arms screenshots, pictures of Adam holding a pistol
and rifle to his head, images of Lego creations, images of hamsters, music,
comedy videos, and a document "written showing the prerequisites for a
mass murder spreadsheet" were also objects found on Adam's computer
(Sedensky, 27).

PART 3 - The Author's Personal
Take

This final
part will include my take on the Sandy Hook incident as I will tell my personal
thoughts and ideas, and also reflect on writing the paper itself. Before I say
anything, I would like to state that I mean no harm to anyone involved in this
incident or hurt by it in any way.

My ideas on
what happen are very diverse, and therefore there are a couple of them. One of
the smaller theories out there is that the
Sandy Hook incident did not happen at all, and I do not subscribe to
this idea one bit. I believe there is far too much information and evidence for
it to have simply not existed. There are also too many people involved, and the
operation of creating a false event this large would simply be impossible,
especially with the amount of suspicion that already exists within the American
populace. There are a lot of videos and pictures that have surfaced the
internet of supposed victims showing up here and there, somehow alive, yet
while the people look extremely similar to the pictures of those killed in
Sandy Hook, none of these new pictures or videos give confirmation that they
are those people. If someone does find a way to confirm them, then there would
be a massive amount to answer for, and the entire case would absolutely
bewilder me completely.

Another,
more common theory, is that there were multiple shooters involved in the
incident. There are many theories that could be sub-categorized within this
bubble, but I'll quickly go through the idea. Christopher Rodia is the owner of
the purple van that was talked about through the police scanner audio. It is
stated that his license plate number is "872-YEO". Very oddly, when
one looks at pictures of Adam Lanza's car which was later taken from the scene,
the license plate is actually the exact same, 872-YEO. This supposed statement
has not seen light from government authority.

Another
thing people point out is that Chris Manfredonia, the man who was running
around the building after the shooting was heard, could be someone involved in
the incident itself. This is because his location at the time of the shooting
and at the time he was detained seem to vary, and thus something as small as
what exactly he was doing there seems to be obscured. Because it is such a
small thing, police and news reports do not give it much attention, and when
this theory began to grow as quickly as it did, the only response from news
outlets was, "he was there to make gingerbread houses with his daughter
and ran out of the building and around to the gym when he heard the
shooting." Theorists think that this is absurd, because why would a father
run away from the crime, all the way to the back of the building instead of
going inside to save his daughter? I could go on and on with the things that
factor into this theory, but I must admit that I do not subscribe to this one
either, and so it would amount to nothing if I did.

I must be
honest and state that after all the research and digging, I believe that Adam
Lanza woke up, shot his mother, drove to the school, and killed 26 students and
staff members. However, I am skeptical and have what might seem like a very odd
perception of why. This is because, while there is not a ton of evidence to
prove that something far different from the Sedensky narrative happened, there
is plenty of evidence to look at and say "this doesn't make sense."
Before I explain why I believe what I believe, let me go through a couple of
things that do not make sense.

Firstly, it
does not make sense that, according to the police scanner audio, the police
were at the front of the school at 9:36am, a little under one minute after the
first 911 call, yet shooting continues until about 9:40am. The only way this
would make sense is if the police were told to stand down, which would mean
that while the shooting continued, the police did not enter the building,
regardless of the fact that all the shooting took place right around the corner
of that front entrance. After the Washington Navy Yard Shooting that happened
on September 16, 2013, where the SWAT team was ordered to also stand down, the
likelihood of this happening at Sandy Hook has been seen as a growing question
as to whether or not it happened.

It does not
make sense that we do not know who the second wounded person is. Why do they
tell us who the first wounded person was (Natalie Hammond), yet are continuing
to hide the identity of the second person who had suffered a gunshot wound to
the foot. We know the names of the dead and the names of the survivors, but the
identity to the second wounded person simply does not exist.

It does not
make sense that, when medical personnel are discussing the need of
transportation for mass casualty kits, one person tells them that what they are
talking about is "unnecessary air traffic". I would think that
grabbing the mass casualty kits to treat those who were shot would be a pretty
important thing, not something to stop discussing and disregard.

It does not
make sense that there were victims reported in the kitchen closets. This, to
me, is a particularly odd thing. There are no reports of children hiding in the
kitchen, only in bathrooms, classrooms, and closets within the classrooms, yet there
are reports of "victims" in the kitchen. If these "victims"
were dead, then why are they not added to the body count that already totals 26
between rooms 10, 8, and outside of Conference Room 9? If they were wounded,
then why are they hidden from the count of wounded? This would seem more likely
to me, because of the way that the identity of one wounded person is already
hidden and undisclosed by anyone. Lastly, if the "victims" were
absolutely fine and unhurt, why are there absolutely no stories of survivors
hiding in the kitchen whatsoever, yet there are tons of stories and interviews
with survivors who had hid in bathrooms and classrooms? Looking at a building
plan of the school, it would be very possible that Lanza could have shot and
wounded people in the kitchen, as it is directly right of the lobby where he
entered. I highly believe this could have and likely happened, yet I have not
read of anyone else who has examined this same evidence.

This is a map/blueprint of the school that should help readers
get a better idea of where the shooting took place, as I have highlighted the
rooms important to the investigation in yellow\

It does not
make sense that there are no legitimate reports of anyone actually seeing Adam
Lanza. Initial reports stated that Adam was dressed in "military
fatigues", in fact almost every report that I read said this up until the
Sedensky report came out, which stated that he was dressed in all black. But in
context, sad to say, almost all that could have seen Adam Lanza end up dead.
Natalie Hammond was wounded, but did not see Lanza at all, but when we look at
the second wounded person we still have no information to go on when it comes
to what they saw, because the identity of this person does not yet exist.

It does not
make sense that Adam Lanza chose the AR-15 as his primary weapon. The AR-15 is
a rifle, built and created for hitting targets from mid to long range. It
simply is not a short-ranged weapon. Yet, even though he reportedly had a
shotgun in his car, a weapon built for close-range, indoor encounters, he chose
to leave it behind and use the AR instead.

It does not
make sense that Adam Lanza must have been standing in front of the school for
five minutes before he took action, unnoticed. To me, it seems rather unlikely
that Adam was completely unseen for five minutes as he did whatever he did in
front of the school before entering the building.

It does not
make sense that legislators of Connecticut were able to pass SB 1160 so quickly
without any solid data to base it off. SB 1160, or "An Act Concerning
Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety" was passed on April 4th, 2013. This act, limiting magazine
capacity to 10 rounds, banning over 100 different weapons, was put into place
with the notion that Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15. The problem with this
is that that fact was not even confirmed until the Sedesnky report came out in
November, months after the bill was passed. This is very disturbing, as it
shows that the legislators were legislating blindly. There was so much
confusion over the firearms used by Adam Lanza, and it was not cleared up until
the Sedensky report came out, and officially addressed it. All other
information came from news reports, which varied widely in what firearms Lanza
used. Some said two pistols, some said the AR-15. The legislators banned the
AR-15 among many other firearms regardless of the fact that they had no solid
data to base it on. This is highly disturbing, especially considering the fact
that the police could have openly announced the exactly what weapon he used
when the event took place in order to dismiss the confusion that still exists.

On
top of that, the government's handling of the entire Sandy Hook situation has
been an absolute blunder. The holders of all the information in the case were
not willing to release certain information (and still aren't) in order to clear
the issue up. By not clearing up the issue of the firearm used, by legislating
blindly with no solid data, by not releasing any photographic evidence to prove
that there was only one shooter, by feeding wrong information directly to new
sources, by leaving so many officials unnamed, by battling the release of the
phone calls and other evidence, by delaying the full report again and again, by
then destroying the Sandy Hook building itself after keeping it in very close
surveillance, all of this has only fed conspiracy theorists and made more and
more people believe that something different happened then the initial story.
With so many pieces missing and so much conflicting information, it has given
many the idea that the government may have had their hands in the shooting
itself, but with so many people involved, the result was confusion among the
press and conflicting stories abound. It is very clear that the state has been
handing the issue very poorly.

Another thing
is that when the incident happened, politicians also started talking about how
much they needed to fix the mental health system in this country. I believe
that's a great idea, but the problem is that they could not have known that
Adam Lanza was ever even diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, or any other
mental disease. Again, the lawmakers were blindly creating laws when they
had no solid data on which to base them or give them reason. They tried to make
it look like the reason behind the shooting was mental illness and gun owners,
and they wrote up laws and put them in place as fast they could, even passing
them in the middle of the night, in fact. I believe that this is very wrong
indeed, especially in the way that it makes people with mental illness look
like they're ticking bombs that could snap any moment, pick up a gun, and shoot
a school to pieces. After all, we all know that nearly every time a mass
shooting happens, people blame it on either a mental disorder or a
psychological problem.

Which
brings me to say that Adam Lanza acting on his own accord to commit these
murders, does not make sense. The state also tried to make violent video
games look like the culprit, especially in the Sedensky essay where it gives us
a specific list of the violent video games Adam Lanza played. I personally have
played almost every single one of those games, and many more on top of that,
and yet I know that I would never be able or willing to commit such an atrocity
as Adam Lanza did. As stated before, I believe the state tried to make these
things look like they were the motive behind what Adam Lanza did, but I think
that this is simply wrong. Jeff White, a 26-year-old who is diagnosed with
Asperger's Syndrome and states that he plays violent video games, wrote to CNN
after the shooting took place and talked about how people should not keep
blaming mass-murders on violent video games, mental-illness, or a mixture of
the two (White, 1). Now, while I completely agree with Mr. White, does that
mean I don't think Adam Lanza could have had Asperger's Syndrome? No. He very
well could have, but I do not think in the slightest that it could have
motivated him to do what he did.

So, after
doing all the research and coming at this subject with an open mind, I have
found that I think something is definitely odd about the entire event. The
amount of conflicting information and overlapping stories far too many for me
to believe that what was portrayed as the initial narrative could have been all
that there is to it. When I gave the initial reports of CNN and FOX news, the
reason I did that was to show how crazy some of the stuff they said was. You
had CNN reporting that police had found a dead body in Ryan Lanza's apartment,
in New Jersey. You had FOX news saying that somehow, police had already
recovered from a wall the 10mm bullet Adam used to kill himself with. You had
multiple news stations completely conflicted on the firearms used. First the
AR-15 was the primary weapon. Then it was left in the passenger seat. Then just
two pistols were used. Then someone says four pistols were used, then we get
back to the AR-15 story. And it goes around and around like some giant carousel
of misinformation. I could go on and on with the amount of conflicting or flat
out absurd data, but I think my IQ would drop so low just thinking about it to
the point where I wouldn't even be capable of finishing this paper. The thing
you have to remember is that all the news sources stated that these
"facts" came from officials. Whether or not they were disproved
later, the fact that different people were feeding these news channels all
completely different information is enough to make many people question the
overall integrity of the case as a whole, information old or new.

Along with
the conflicting information, the way that the state was so quick to jump at
this event and basically climb upon the backs of the dead in order to get in
front of the camera to start shouting about gun control and mental health,
makes many, including me, question the situation even further. Plus the fact
that they were passing the legislation before they even knew the facts, makes
it all look very odd. Combine the bad handling of the case with the feed of
false info, with the questions still unanswered, with the hidden ID of the
wounded person, with the constant delays from the state, with the lack of solid
evidence given to the people, and the idea that I get is that maybe the
government really was involved in the shooting somehow. Virginia Tech,
Columbine, the University of Texas shooting, the Navy Yard shooting, all of
these other mass shootings have released pictures or videos or other evidence
that proves they happened just the way the narrative went. While I do not think
this matters particularly, it just proves more of how poorly the state has
handled the incident.

My opinion
on this issue revolves around the idea that the government may have had
something to do with this issue. Normally, this is the root of the conspiracies’
argument, however I do not consider myself a conspiracist at all. I simply
think of myself as someone who has a desire to know the truth about this issue.
That's all I wanted when I started my research, and yet because I do not feel I
have it, I am not able to agree with the initial narrative. Most people who
think conspiracy theorist's are silly and crazy, the one thing they must receive credit for
is the fact that they actually dig into the information given and seek to
verify the facts. Most American's these days take the information fed to them
by news outlets, and never think twice about it. This issue was different for
me, as the conflicting stories that aired caught my attention, and made me feel
the need to find out what really happened. In a case where the information
given to the public was vastly different, I also think it is important to point
out that every idea about this case is, in itself, a theory. This is because
the solid, factual data does not exist in order for the matter to remain
undisputed. For one to believe the initial narrative would mean that one must
first question whether or not they actually know the full initial narrative.

Before I go
into what I think could have happened, I think it is important to think about
why different theories exist in the first place. For this issue I believe there
are two reasons. The first reason being, that, people simply do not trust the
government as much as they used to. In fact, public trust in government is at
an all-time low. Pew Research Center did a study on public trust from 1958 -
2013, and it shows that whereas public trust was at 73% in 1958, it is now at
only 19% by the end of 2013. Because of the fact that many people don't really
trust the government, over time they become willing to believe or become
comfortable with believing that the government would want to hurt the
population or do bad things to it.

The second reason people may subscribe to
conspiracy theories, specifically for this situation, is because of the manner
and speed used to push new gun control legislation. People feel that this could
have been a move by the government to create an excuse allowing them to create
new gun laws. While there was much talk of improving care for mental health, we
have yet to see anything put in place regarding it, whereas the gun control
legislation has been put in place already.

Getting
back to my long-delayed opinion, I must admit that my idea may sound quite
crazy, so here I must ask the reader to bear with me. It also must be
understood that I do not fully support this idea myself, and that I'm simply
expressing it because of the fact that if I had my heart set on believing what
we deem as "conspiracy theories", then this would be it. That said,
it is nothing more than an idea, while at the same time I am more likely to
believe the narrative given but with ample suspicion. Adam Lanza had absolutely
no reason to do what he did. The Sedensky report itself explained that a motive
may never be uncovered for the incident. Regardless of the video games,
interests, or mental health of Adam Lanza, there is nothing to be shown as to
why he would on his own do something like this. It is even indicated in the
Sedensky report that Adam loved the school and enjoyed going there as a kid.
Everyone described him as a smart and polite kid from what the report tells us,
the only negative attribute being that he was quiet and withdrawn.

Let me
bring you forward in time from this event- and don't worry, this is all part of
it. September 16, 2013, Aaron Alexis, 34, walks into the Washington Navy Yard,
and fatally shoots twelve people. The motive behind this crime committed,
according to Aaron himself, is ultra-low frequency waves. He believed that he
was trying to be communicated with via "low frequency electromagnetic
waves" and claims that is what drove him to do what he did (Botelho, 1).

Now go
forward just one month, to October 3, 2013. Mariam Carey, 34, gets in her car
and drives the to the US capitol building, and attempts to run police officers
over with her car. After a long police chase, she is shot and killed by the
police. Meriam's thought that the government had her house under surveillance,
which apparently drove her to drive all the way to DC in order to kill some
police officers.

What I'm
getting at is this: Adam Lanza, a nobody until now, as the world was concerned,
was a kid who sat in his room all day with his computer, where his mother
barely kept tab on him. He sat there, day to day, communicating with his mom
via e-mail, becoming more withdrawn as years went on regardless of the fact
that people seemed to show an appreciation for his intelligence and politeness.
One day, something happens, or maybe nothing happens. But he wakes up, shoots
his own mother, leaves the house, and kills 26 people in a school that he
loved. Together, that's 27 people dead. But I find it wrong to give a false
death count - it was 28 people that died, Adam Lanza shot himself.

If I
subscribe to any theory that involves the government, I believe there could be
some correlation between these three incidents. If anything, I believe that
while Adam Lanza sat in his room day to day, some form of mind control could
have happened. Mind control has been an experimental thing through many
militaries and governments, and we must realize that it is not an impossible
thing. Look at branches like the Marines or the Navy SEALs, where we take
normal men and turn them into machines created for the sole purpose of fighting
the enemy and winning no matter the cost. These people do not come back from
their training or combat as the same person that left, and I'm talking on a
level involving emotion and mentality. Take a kid who has not much contact with
the outside world- no Facebook, no xBox account, no Twitter, no Steam account,
no phone, only an email and a mother living a few rooms away, and I believe
that somehow some type of messages could have been being fed to him. It sounds
crazy, and it very well may be, but I know for one thing- and that is that I
don't believe that Adam Lanza could have done this on his own accord.

But, this
is only one side of the coin for me. I must admit to having two opinions, or
maybe what you would call one and a half. As much as I do believe that
something was really strange about this case, I don't think I or anyone else
will ever know. And the real problem that remains is that what is done is done,
and at the end of the day, the world was missing 28 people. Twenty children,
six staff members, a mother named Nancy Lanza, and a 22-year-old man named Adam
Lanza. If somehow, tomorrow, they decide to release all this footage and all
these photos and documents etc, etc, I would be willing to believe different
with no resistance. I do not believe my research would have been in vain, but maybe
it will soon prove to be, and I would have to be fine with accepting that.

I want to
say, in reflection on writing this paper, that the process itself has been
fairly dour. It started off well, it was interesting for me, someone who likes
research, but as the days went on, hour after hour of sitting in front of a
computer reviewing morbid details, reading interviews, watching news footage,
and listening to police audio, I began to get sort of depressed over it all. If
I were to describe the writing of this paper in two words, those two words
would be "tiring" and "depressing". However, I do think
that it was good for me to do. I always believe finding the truth is what is
right and good, so be it. Constantly dwelling on the subject of a school
shooting can only have one outcome, I suppose. It has also inspired me to look
deeper into a career as a law enforcement officer, and possibly one day have
the opportunity to stop something like this before it happens.

Speaking of
which, I think that writing this paper without suggesting ways and methods of
how to stop such things from happening again. I want to take a moment at the
close of this paper to state what I think could be done, and what really is the only thing remaining to be done, to stop such terrors
from happening again.

Proposed
Safety Ideas

With
as much respect as possible and without any intention to sound careless, I want
to mention that one year later, not much has changed. Despite the fact that
this tragedy took place, where is the change that institutes a policy to
protect the children of America in school? After the shooting took place, the
Administration that runs this country unsuccessfully tried to federally
implement an unconstitutional ban of various arms that Americans use an average
of 2.5 million times a year to defend themselves with.

But
schools remain unprotected. As a high school student, I find that if someone
had ever decided they wanted to walk into our school and to shoot students and
staff, it would be very easy to do. We have the exact same security system as
Sandy Hook. Hit the buzzer, get identified on camera, walk in. This didn't
happen at Sandy Hook. Lanza didn't buzz, he didn't get identified, he simply
shot and continued to do so until there were 27 less people alive in that
building, in less than five minutes. Because no one was there to stop him, he
did what he did easily and without rush. If someone tried to do the same thing
to our school, or almost any other school, the same result would exist.

Sandy
Hook, Columbine and Virginia Tech, showed us that lockdowns do not work. In
Columbine, when students hid under desks as protocol in an emergency situation,
the shooters simply shot the students through the desks, or put their guns
underneath the desks, and pulled the triggers. Someone walks into the building
with the intent on doing harm, and locking a door and hiding in a corner is not
going to save your life. The only thing that saves your life is if the shooter
decides to kill himself first, or if the police show up in time. It took five
minutes for the police to get to Sandy Hook, and when seconds count, the police
are always minutes away. And it costs lives. Or recount the Navy Yard shooting,
where, as the shooter continued to kill people who could not defend themselves,
the police were outside of the building, waiting to go in, yet were told by
superiors to stand down, and not enter the building. One cannot fathom the
horror of knowing that while colleagues around you are continuing to die, the
police are standing down, and not entering to rescue.

I
firmly believe there are two ways that the schools of America can be protected.
A) We could have certain teachers armed. You could either take teachers who
already have concealed carry permits and shooting experience, or you could take
other teachers and train them and get them their permits. All firearms that the
teachers had in the building should be concealed 24/7 so that students aren't
distracted and so that they cannot touch the firearms themselves. This would also
allow people to not know which teachers were armed. Firearms would not be drawn
unless an emergency was confirmed and there was an active outside threat inside
the building. Some schools have already implemented this system across America,
but very few. Those who disagree say that "teachers would get mad and end
up shooting students" or something along the lines of that, but the fact
is this: if you can't trust your teachers with a firearm, then you shouldn't trust
your teachers at all, and thus they shouldn't be teaching in the first place. A
teacher's job is also to protect the students in such a situation, and as we
saw in Sandy Hook, sadly, one staff member was found dead shielding a student
who was also found dead.

Those
who disregard this option due to whatever reason, there is an alternative that
I also find well: B) have armed security guards in the school. Not only would
this keep the school safe but it would also give the guards a chance to get to
know students and help them with anything in general. Security would be trained
to not use firearms unless there was lethal threat, and could also conceal and
carry, or open carry as most security guards and police do. Many say that this
would cost too much money, and I think that is absolutely and entirely a
completely pathetic answer. If you think that knowing your children are safe
and alive is too much to pay for, then I think you're insane. I dislike taxes
and more expenses just as much as the next man, but when it comes to keeping
people safe and potentially saving lives, I would gladly pay the expenses
necessary. Many schools across America are implementing this system, including
the new Newtown school which has armed security guards. May God bless the
families of those affected by shootings such as this, and any other tragedy
that takes place in this country. May we pray for the politicians to
further make the right choices in order to not just protect our children and
fellow students, but also the rest of the American population, and themselves
as well.